Chap. VII. The Extinction of Races 1S3 



to 1858, the decrease was 19.42 per cent. Some of the tribes, 

 thus carefully examined, lived above a hundred miles apart, 

 eonie on the coast, some inland ; and their means of subsistence 

 and habits differed to a certain extent (p. 28). The total 

 number in 1858 was believed to be 53,700, and in 1872, after a 

 second interval of fourteen years, another census was taken, 

 and the number is given as only 36,359, shewing a decrease of 

 32*29 per cent. ! il Mr. Fenton, after shewing in detail the in- 

 sufficiency of the various causes, usually assigned in explana- 

 tion of this extraordinary decrease, such as new diseases, the 

 profligacy of the women, drunkenness, wars, &c, concludes on 

 weighty grounds that it depends chiefly on the unproductiveness 

 of the women, and on the extraordinary mortality of the young 

 children (pp. 31, 34). In proof of this he shews (p. 33) that in 

 1844 there was one non-adult for every 2"57 adults; whereas in 

 1858 there was only one non-adult for every 3'27 adults. The 

 mortality of the adults is also great. He adduces as a further 

 cause of the decrease the inequality of the sexes ; for fewer females 

 are born than males. To this latter point, depending perhaps 

 on a widely distinct cause, I shall return in a future chapter. 

 Mr. Fenton contrasts with astonishment the decrease in New 

 Zealand with the increase in Ireland; countries not very dis- 

 similar in climate, and where the inhabitants now follow nearly 

 similar habits. The Maories themselves (p. 35) " attribute their 

 "decadence, in some measure, to the introduction of new food 

 " and clothing, and the attendant change of habits;" and it will 

 be seen, when we consider the influence of changed- conditions 

 on fertility, that they are probably right. The diminution began 

 between the years 1830 and 1840 ; and Mr. Fenton shews (p. 40) 

 that about 1830, the art of manufacturing putrid corn (maize), 

 by long steeping in water, was discovered and largely practised ; 

 and this proves that a change of habits was beginning amongst 

 the natives, even when New Zealand was only thinly inhabited 

 by Europeans. "When I visited the Bay of Islands in 1835, 

 the dress and food of the inhabitants had already been much 

 modified : they raised potatoes, maize, and other agricultural 

 produce, and exchanged them for English manufactured goods 

 and tobacco. 



It is evident from many statements in the life of Bishop 

 Patteson, 42 that the Melanesians of the New Hebrides and 

 neighbouring archipelagoes, suffered to an extraordinary degree 

 in health, and perished in large numbers, when they were 



41 'New Zealand,' by Alex. Ken- C. M. Younge, 1874; see mora 

 aedy, 1873, p. 47. especially vol. i. p. 530. 



42 * Life of J. C. Patteson/ by 



